I haven't seen them all, but I generally enjoy those "Who Do You Think You Are?" programmes
that feature well known people (or rather a team of researchers) tracing their family trees. Amongst those featured have been some people that I'm not keen on (Chris Moyles, Jeremy Paxman, Davina McCall & Jeremy Clarkson)as I think that they're a bit over-rated; self-obsessed; take them self too seriously etc. Of these, Jeremy Clarkson was the only one that I didn't end up feeling that I had perhaps judged a bit harshly. He seemed to have virtually no sense of connection to, or empathy with his ancestors. His main concern seemed to be what had happened to the fortune his family had made (from a particular type of lidded jar)and expressing his annoyance that "my money" had been squandered, seemingly oblivious that it would also belong to all of the other descendants.
To be fair, successful media types like Paxman/Moyles, discovering the hardships their forbears had suffered is always going to be more emotive and engaging than Clarkson discovering that his family had done really well. However I couldn't detect any warmth, humanity or humility in Clarkson at all, in a programme that usually displays something of the person behind the persona.
(Cave Duck, Tue 4 May 2010, 16:10, Reply)